Sony's Rootkit Infringes On Copyright?

from the well-look-at-that dept

Look, we really, really want to stop writing about Sony BMG's damn rootkit, but when they keep doing ridiculous things or as more scary info comes out about it, it's almost impossible to resist. The company brought this on itself -- and its reaction so far certainly leaves them open to the continued criticism as more info comes out (and we're not even going to get into the discovery that Sony's copy protection uninstaller is open to malware writers to misuse as well). The latest, found on Boing Boing, is that the rootkit technology itself has copyright infringing code taken from LAME, the open source mp3 encoder -- which has a clear copyright license, requiring certain things, none of which Sony BMG/First4Internet follows. Yes, the irony is thick: this technology that Sony BMG still claims is necessary to protect its intellectual property, apparently violates other's intellectual property. Good work, Sony BMG and First4Internet. You've succeeded in making a mockery of your own technology.

LMAOOMFGROFLLOLERWAFFLESWTFBBQ

That is the funniest thing I have heard of in a good long time.They steal the code from a program that's not only good for saving tracks / making copies of your old scratched up CD's, but also used for illegally pirating perfect copies of them on the Internet to create a program designed to keep you from pirating their CD's on the Internet.I do so hope that EAC sues them for copyright infringement. That would be a court case I would almost kill to be on the jury for.

This Crap is Funny!

It gets better and better.

This whole mess with Sony/BMG is giving DRM in general a bad name. Nobody is going to use DRM infected products, companies are going to whine and cry that they aren't making enough money so they'll blame the P2P services as always. They'll sue more people and make the customers feel even more alienaged and angry.

Its sad really, but we're seeing the beginnings of something that I HOPE will result in either a major shift in how the RIAA does business or the death of the RIAA as a whole...and the death of DRM along with them.